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When the final whistle blows on a footballer’s career it can signal a lonely and sometimes financially testing time.

Only a fraction of those who quit the pro game each year progress into coaching or management or take up high-profile media posts.

And history has shown how quickly – and how far – former stars can fall without the cushion of a football club to help them bounce back.

But now a Birmingham-based charity is working hard to ensure that players can cope with life away from the game.

XPro, which aims to help footballers who have fallen on hard times, said a proactive approach was needed to the halt a surge in financial problems among stars.

The organisation, run by former Blues defender Geoff Scott, warned that an ever-increasing number of players were failing to prepare for the day when they quit the professional game.

The charity made its claim after recent research by a group of insolvency experts found as many as two in five ex-pros faced the threat of bankruptcy within five years of hanging up their boots.

Chief executive Scott said the charity was working hard to prevent players from descending into financial troubles when their careers ended.

He claimed that many players were too ashamed to speak openly about their situation.

Birmingham-born Scott, who joined Blues from Leicester in 1982, said: “Xpro has not done its own research but we have relied on experts.

“At the same time we realised we were being approached by more and more former footballers facing serious financial difficulties and looking to us for advice.

“We have been looking into why these problems exist when footballers are earning far higher salaries than ever before.

“It seems they are either going into business once they retire from football and making bad decisions or they are being exposed to bad advice by wealth managers.

“Many are being exposed to unregulated investment products – everything from film companies to a shipwreck.

“We have heard of ex-pros investing in as many as eight high risk schemes and then losing the lot.

“Our advice is if something sounds too good to be true it probably is.

“Statistics show 70 per cent of investments are mis-sold and footballers with their wealth and short-lived careers are an easy target.”

Xpro is now advocating that experts be allowed into clubs to advise players of the risks before they retire.

“We need to educate players now rather than trying to help once they have failed as it is often then very difficult,” Scott added.

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Lee Hendrie plays for The Villa Old Boys in 2012

From England fame to bankruptcy court for Villa star

Former Villa and England midfielder Lee Hendrie was one of the highest-profile stars to have been declared bankrupt.

The 35-year-old, who earned £24,000 a week at the peak of his career, went bust in January, 2012, owing HM Revenue & Customs £200,000 in unpaid tax.

Insolvency firm RSM Tenon said last March that Hendrie was left high and dry when investments in property and film partnerships turned sour.

His £1.6 million Warwickshire home was repossessed along with the property he bought for his mum.

By that point, Hendrie had already tried to kill himself twice, weighed down by his money worries. He said last year: “That was the money, the football. It ended up getting too much. I thought to myself: ‘I can’t carry on here.’ It was horrible.”

Former Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel was also declared bankrupt, it emerged in January 2011.

His US football academy reportedly ran up debts of £5 million. A spokesman for the player called the problem a “technical bankruptcy” which was not expected to be in place for long.

And in October, 2007, it emerged another former Villa player, Eric Djemba-Djemba, had also gone bankrupt following what his agent called “an accumulation of problems over a long time”.

Clubs now have ex-players groups available to help with the welfare of their former colleagues.

Later this year, West Bromwich Albion’s former players’ association celebrates its tenth anniversary.

It has more than 100 members and helps members or their relatives with financial, personal and moral support when required.

It raises funds by working alongside the club and the supporters’ club to organise dinners and golf days, with the former players attending these functions. The group, otherwise known as ‘The Old Baggies’, was formed by ex-players Brendon Batson, then managing director of the football club, and Graham Williams, captain of the 1968 FA Cup-winning team.

Aston Villa also has a thriving former stars’ group which raises thousands of pounds each year through various functions and charity matches.